During her brilliant young career, Keely Hodgkinson has usually shown speed and street smarts far beyond her years – and beaten almost whoever is put in front of her. But in Lausanne on Friday night, Britain’s Olympic and world silver medallist found herself boxed in, and then out-thought and outpaced, as she suffered her first defeat of the year.
It was one of those nights where nothing went to plan. Hodgkinson found herself in third at halfway in the 800m, and when she did push forward into second, she was blocked off by the Kenyan Mary Moraa, who kept moving across her lane to stop her passing. Having altered her pace, Moraa then sprinted clear to win in 1:57.43.
“I’m disappointed because I am better than that,” said Hodgkinson, who had won her previous 10 races in 2023. “I just didn’t get myself in the best position. And against an athlete like Mary, you cannot afford to do that.”
Hodgkinson’s time of 1:58.37 was more than two seconds slower than she had run in Paris three weeks ago, when she set the fastest time in the world this year. The good news for British ears is that she confirmed afterwards that there were no niggles to blame for her run. “Nothing changes for the rest of the season,” she added. “I am in great shape, this just wasn’t my day.”
On another superb night of racing in the Diamond League, the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen continued his unbeaten season with victory over 1500m in 3:28.72, but Britain’s Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr was also impressive in coming third in a season’s best 3:29.64 while Elliot Giles was fifth in a personal best 3:31:56. Meanwhile in the women’s 100m Daryll Neita was second in 11.07, behind Marie-Josée Ta Lou who eased to victory in 10.88.
However, the race of the night came in the men’s 5,000m, as the Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi ran a series of 60-second laps before holding off the Olympic champion, Joshua Cheptegei, to a sprint finish to win in 12:40.45 - the fifth fastest time in history.
